Comrade of the Night-Alexander Ovechkin

Posted February 23rd 2013 at 1:50 pm by Sergei Miledin

(courtesy of Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)

With his fiance in the crowd and his best buddy opposite him on the ice, Alex Ovechkin exploded against the Devils on Saturday afternoon. The Capitals captain came to life against a dismal New Jersey team where he tallied his first hat trick of the year after not scoring in the past three games. Ovechkin opened the scoring for the Caps on the power-play in the second period when Mike Ribeiro found him wide open to slot past Johan Hedberg.
Fellow countryman, Ilya Kovalchuk, canceled out the goal with a nifty snipe in the final seconds of the period for his seventh of the year. The Ovi vs Kovi show continued right out of the gate when Ovechkin scored a signature snap-shot goal from the right circle beating Hedberg blocker side for his seventh of the year.

He would add his third goal later on the power-play once more meeting Nick Backstrom’s pass near the top of the circle for his first hat trick since Jan. 22, 2011. He would also add an assist on the Capitals 5th goal to give him a four point night.

Will this performance spur him to find the goal scoring prowess he’s known for is anyone’s guess but at least for one day, Capitals fans got to see the Ovi of old and should consider getting Maria Kirikenko season tickets to keep his hands hot. All 3 goals can be seen below courtesy of NHL.com

FUN FACT: Ovechkin (347) and Kovalchuk (305) rank No. 1-2 in goals scored since the start of the 2005-06 season